The present invention relates in general to equipment for measuring thermodynamic properties of a substance and, in particular to a new and useful enthalpy measuring arrangement for measuring enthalpy or heat content of a two-phase substance which may be in the form of a gas, a liquid, or a mixture of gas plus liquid.
The thermodynamic properties of substances are normally calculated using computer algorithms with high level computer languages. While discrete function blocks have been utilized to calculate the enthalpy of a superheated or totally gaseous substance, only computers have hitherto been utilized to measure the enthalpy of a two-phase substance. The use of function blocks to measure the enthalpy of a gaseous substance is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,216 issued Jan. 13, 1981.
The use of computers programmed with high level language to calculate the enthalpy of two-phase saturated substances, is slow in processing time while also requiring highly trained personnel. This results in a high cost factor for such calculations.